Growth in NZ spending on credit, debit cards stalls in March

Growth in NZ spending on credit, debit stalls in March
after Feb gain; apparel drops

By Suze
Metherell

April 9 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand spending
growth on credit and debit cards stalled in March, as a
decline in expenditure on fuel and clothing offset gains for
food and liquor.

The value of retail spending on
electronic cards was unchanged, seasonally adjusted, at $4.6
billion last month, after gaining 0.8 percent in February,
according to Statistics New Zealand. Core retailing, which
excludes spending on fuel and auto-related items, gained 0.1
percent to $3.7 billion, while the value of total electronic
card purchases, including services, fell 0.2 percent to $6
billion.

Spending on apparel declined 2.4 percent to $287
million in March, down from February’s 2.1 percent rise to
$294 million. Durables spending fell 0.1 percent to $1.1
billion and fuel spending declined for a third month, down
1.7 percent to $730 million.

Flat spending on cards “is
not a great surprise given that there was quite a strong
increase in spending in the previous month,” ASB economist
Daniel Smith said in a note. “March card spending is
likely to have been affected by good weather delaying winter
clothing purchases.”

The gain in core retail spend was
buoyed by an increase in hospitality spending of 0.5 percent
to $722 million while consumables spending rose 0.4 percent
to $1.6 billion.

Vehicle spending rose for a second month
up 2.8 percent to $134 million. Expenditure on services rose
3.1 percent to $215 million.

On an unadjusted basis, total
spending on electronic cards rose 5.3 percent to $6.16
billion from the same month a year earlier.

There were
119 million transactions in March, worth an average of $52.
About 54.6 percent of all transactions were on debit cards,
with the remainder on credit. Electronic card transactions
account for about two-thirds of all retail spending.

The Wellington-based BusinessDesk team led by former Bloomberg Asian top editor Jonathan Underhill and Qantas Award-winning journalist and commentator Pattrick Smellie provides a daily news feed for a serious business audience.

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